On the tech side of the fence, much of the damage already has been done. The Nasdaq composite index, down more than 60 percent from its record high last year, gained 67.48 points to 1,897.71, according to preliminary figures.

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"The popping of the technology bubble had been the center of the action," said Bill Sutherland, vice president of Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. "Now it's broadening out, creating the fear that leads to a sell- off."

Most investors would say there's plenty of fear to go around. The latest frights came from consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co., which said it will tighten its belt even further by cutting another 9,600 jobs.

Discount broker Charles Schwab Corp. did a little trick-or-treating of its own, announcing that quarterly profit will come in below expectations and that as much as 13 percent of the company's workforce will be fired.

And Lucent Technologies, which once could do no wrong in the eyes of Wall Street, demonstrated yet more weakness by slicing in half the price for the initial public offering of shares of its Agere Systems spinoff. The IPO has been delayed twice already.

The question of the hour: Is the market anywhere near bottom?

Answer: Could be.

"I think we're getting close to maximum selling pressure," said Douglas Cliggott, chief investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Securities in New York. "You don't need a parachute, but you do need patience."

He said investors are gradually waking up to the realization that Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, unlike Felix the Cat, can produce only so many surprises from his bag of tricks.

With this revelation, Cliggott added, investors will accept, sooner or later, that minimum 10 percent increases in earnings per share are a thing of the past.

"The selling right now is pretty indiscriminate," he said. "That creates opportunities, but it also creates panic. Panic doesn't help anyone."

Elliott Rogers, managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston, said investors should expect the market to remain bumpy for the remainder of the month, until the quarter comes to a close.

"Mutual funds are doing some housecleaning," he observed. "That means there's a lot of noise in the market, but it's not actually related to fundamentals."